2007 |
Autumn passage summary – highest autumn count of recent years
Autumn migration peaked from 13-21 Oct, with maxima of 6,000 on 18th, 9,500 on 19th and 5,000 on 20th. This was one of the larger Chaffinch movements recorded on Lundy; numbers reached 5,000 or more on only a dozen occasions in previous years. The estimate of 9,500 on 19 Oct remains (as of the end of 2023) the highest total logged since publication of The Birds of Lundy (see also 2010 & 2017).
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2008 |
Autumn passage summary
Autumn migration peaked from 17-25 Oct, with a maximum of 5,000 on 25 Oct.
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2009 |
Autumn passage summary
Visible migration in autumn was less spectacular than in 2007 & 2008, with a maximum of 1,200 on 19 Oct and only five other daily counts of more than 200.
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2010 |
Highest spring-passage count of recent years
1 Mar – A count of 45 reamins (as of the end of 2023) the highest total logged in spring since publication of The Birds of Lundy.
Autumn passage summary
Autumn maxima of 1,500 on 17 Oct, 5,700 on 22nd, 8,000 on 25th and 1,000 on 28th. The estimate of 8,000 on 25 Oct remains (as of the end of 2023) the second-highest total logged since publication of The Birds of Lundy (see also 2007 & 2017).
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2011 |
Notable spring-passage count
Mar – A count of 40 remains (as of the end of 2023) the third highest total logged in spring since publication of The Birds of Lundy.
Autumn passage summary
One of the poorest autumns of recent year for visible Chaffinch migration, with maxima of 850 on 25 Oct and 920 on 1 Nov.
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2012 |
Notable spring-passage count
18 Mar – A count of 41 remains (as of the end of 2023) the second-highest total logged in spring since publication of The Birds of Lundy.
Autumn passage summary
Autumn migration peaked from 19-25 Oct, with a maximum of 2,500 on 25 Oct. 600 were counted heading south in 90 minutes on 13 Nov, showing that autumn passage can be quite protracted.
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2013 |
Autumn passage summary
Due to adverse weather conditions, one of the worst years on record for visible autumn migration, with a maximum of just 600 on 24 Oct.
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2014 |
Autumn passage summary
Unusually mild conditions, with persistently adverse winds for migrants from northern Europe, meant that October finch migration was close to non-existent. Chaffinch counts remained stubbornly low, with numbers only exceeding 100 on six dates in the last week of Oct; the highest totals being 1,400 on 28th, 1,500 on 29th and 350 on 30th. Numbers had dwindled to 50 by 1 Nov, with 120 on 6 Nov being the only further obvious influx of migrants.
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2015 |
Autumn passage summary
For a third successive autumn, weather conditions in late Oct and early Nov were unfavourable for major daytime movements of finches over Lundy and there were just four dates – all in the last week of Oct – when Chaffinch numbers exceeded 100; the maximum of 300 occurred on 26th.
See below for details of a Chaffinch ringed on Lundy in Oct 2009 that was controlled for the second time in Norway in Apr 2015, having previously been caught there in Apr 2012.
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2016 |
Autumn passage summary
The highest autumn passage counts were 3,000 on 25 Oct (the only count of more than 1,000).
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2017 |
Notable spring-passage count
13 Apr – A count of 26 was the highest total logged in spring since 2012.
Autumn passage summary – notable count
Mid-Sep brought the first sign of autumn movements, with 12 on 14th, but it was another month before migration started in earnest: 33 on 12 Oct rose to 100 on 15th, 275 on 19th, 650 on 25th and peaked at 5,500 on 26th, 4,360 on 31st and 2,000 on 1 Nov. Thereafter, numbers declined to 600 on 3 Nov and 130 on 14th – the last three-digit count of the year. The estimate of 5,500 on 26 Oct remains (as of the end of 2023) the third-highest total logged since publication of The Birds of Lundy (see also 2007 & 2010).
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2018 |
Autumn passage summary
The first signs of passage occurred during late Sep and the first half of Oct, with eight on 24 Sep, 10 on 27th and 14 on 7 Oct. The main movements took place in the last two weeks of Oct and included: 160 on 20th, 600 on 21st, 478 on 27th, 1,410 on 29th and 200 on 31st. Passage extended well into Nov, with peak counts of between 400 and 500 on 9th, 10th & 12th, 120 on 16th & 19th and double-digit counts as late as 26th.
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2019 |
Autumn passage summary
The autumn-passage peak occurred as usual in late Oct, with relatively modest maxima of 1,000 on 23rd and 1,700 on 28th. Counts of 100 or more in November were 216 (6th), 193 (13th) and 184 (24th).
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2020 |
Autumn passage summary
Numbers reached the low twenties early in Oct, followed by a sudden mass arrival of 500 on 14th but there were only four other three-figure counts during the rest of the month, all of 300 birds or fewer. A second wave saw numbers peak at 950 on 4 Nov and 400 the next day – the final three-figure count of the season – though small flocks continued to pass through until the end of the first week in Dec.
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2021 |
Autumn passage summary
The first signs of autumn passage were detectable from late Sep (10 on 24th but numbers were low in Oct, 400 on 17th by far the highest total logged. Passage was also unusually extended, and though numbers reached triple figures for the last time with 125 on 29 Oct, movements continued throughout Nov and much further into Dec than normal, with relatively late peaks of 78 on 22 Nov, 65 on 9 Dec and 26 on 24 Dec.
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2022 |
Autumn passage summary
The first noticeable autumn movement was 30 on 11 Oct. Passage peaked at 2,000 on 18 Oct with a second peak of 1,036 on 12 Nov. During Oct & Nov there were 11 days when counts exceeded 300 individuals.
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2023 |
Autumn passage summary – notable count
After the first big push of autumn, which saw c.1,500 move through on 16 Oct, a couple of hundred were recorded daily 17th to 21st Oct, followed by before 550 on 22nd, 4,031 on 23rd and 3,114 on 24th, the biggest numbers coinciding with south-easterlly winds, is typical for Lundy. The count of 4.031 on 23 Oct was the fourth-highest since publication of The Birds of Lundy (see also 2007, 2010 & 2017).
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Ringing
Ringing recovery: A Chaffinch ringed as a first-year female on Lundy on 26 Oct 2007 (ring no. V935134) was found dead (hit window) at Le Chêne, Saint-Colomban, Loire-Atlantique, France (47°00’N, 1°34’W) on 17 Feb 2008 (114 days; 515 km; SSE 155°). This is the furthest south that any British-ringed Chaffinch is known to have moved and may give an indication of the onward direction followed by the very large numbers that passed through Lundy during October 2007.
Ringing recovery: A Chaffinch ringed as a first-year female on Lundy on 07 Sep 2007 (ring no. T949551) was found dead, having been taken by a cat, at Okehampton, Devon on 20 Apr 2008 (226 days; 67 km; SE 137°).
Ringing control: A Chaffinch ringed as a first-year female on Lundy on 14 Oct 2009 (ring no. L026586) was controlled at Bømyra, Randaberg, Rogaland, Norway (a few km NW of Stavanger) on 23 Apr 2012 (922 days; 1,086 km; NE 37°). The first Chaffinch ringing movement involving Lundy and Norway.
Ringing control: A Chaffinch ringed as a first-year female on Lundy on 20 Oct 2012 (ring no. D184049) was controlled at Mulvika, Holmestrand, Vestfold, Norway on 04 Apr 2014 (531 days; 1,320 km; NE 46°).
Ringing control: The Chaffinch ringed as a first-year female on Lundy on 14 Oct 2009 (ring no. L026586) was controlled for a second time (see above for details of earlier control in Apr 2012) at the very same location, i.e. Bømyra, Randaberg, Rogaland, Norway on 06 Apr 2015 (2,000 days; 1,086 km; NE 37°).
Ringing recovery: A Chaffinch ringed as a second calendar-year male on Lundy on 26 Apr 2013 (ring no. D184209) was found freshly dead (death attributed to trichomonosis) at Ynys Hir, Ceredigion on 01 May 2016 (1,101 days; 160 km; NNE 18°).
Ringing recovery: A Chaffinch ringed as a first-year female on Lundy on 25 Oct 2016 (ring no. Z981660) was found dying, having having hit a windw, at Lifton, Devon on 12 Nov 2017 (383 days; 64 km; SSE 155°).
Ringing recovery: A Chaffinch ringed as a first-year male on Lundy on 20 Oct 2012 (ring no. D184039) was found freshly dead at Kungsgarden, Sandviken, Gävleborg, Sweden on 25 Apr 2018 (2013 days; 1,686 km; NE 52°). This is the third Chaffinch ringed on Lundy in late Oct to have been found in Sweden in a subsequent spring or summer. Together with five other movements involving Denmark (1) Norway (3) and Russian Federation (1), a picture begins to emerge of the source region of many of the Chaffinches that pass through Lundy in autumn.
Ringing recovery: A Chaffinch ringed as a first-year female on Lundy on 04 Oct 2015 (ring no. Z420852) was found dead at Blaencelyn, Llandysul, Ceredigion on 22 Jul 2018 (1022 days; 111 km; N 9°).
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